A Little, A Little, A Trifle
by Chaos Chao
Summary: Collection of one shots, set in either the anime or the manga. My writing skills improve progressively with each chapter.
1. 1

New idea of mine. Just taking it on a test drive. Tell me how ya like it!  
.  
.  
Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh  
.

* * *

.  
.  
.  
.  
"Damn it," Yami snarled, "That bastard...DAMN IT!"

He kicked the Door as hard as he could. The action produced a loud 'bang' noise, but the Door still refused to budge.

'How?! How could this have happened?!'  
.  
.  
.  
.

They'd been talking less than ten or fifteen minutes ago...now the Millennium Puzzle was in the hands of a thief and there was nothing, NOTHING he could do about it!

"This isn't helping anything," he muttered, laying a hand flat against the surface of the door and pressing the other to his forehead in a attempt to concentrate, "I need...to calm down."  
.  
.  
.  
.

Calmness eluded him. He growled, but resisted the urge to vent his frustration physically again. He could feel the strands of darkness coming from the thief...no ordinary thief this...and it seemed the longer he watched the more those threads of shadow magic tangled themselves around his Puzzle.

'Yugi's Puzzle,' he absentmindedly reminded himself, 'He solved the Puzzle, that makes him the owner...I'm just baggage.'

Not long after, he felt a shift. Something outside the Puzzle had changed.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.

"Hmm?"

The thief had let go? He could sense it - the thief had left the Puzzle somewhere. The threads of shadow were like loose ends of string coiling around, but at least they'd stopped moving. Now Yugi would be able to catch up...

'...I hope he gets here soon.'  
.  
.  
.  
.

Leaning against the door now, arms folded, Yami waited. Even if Yugi got here soon, they'd have a hard time communicating until the Puzzle was back and safe around the boy's neck.

Minutes flowed past outside the confines of the Puzzle. Now he was getting worried. What if Yugi couldn't find them? The thief might have put the Puzzle down because he knew no one was coming to take it back.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.

'What if Yugi isn't coming?' a tiny part of his mind asked.

'Shut up. Of course he's coming.'

'For the Puzzle, sure. His grandfather gave him the Puzzle. But does he really want to get you back?'

'I thought I dealt with this already,' he sighed, hugging his arms tighter around himself.  
.  
.  
.

_One_ bad duel and you start looking over your shoulder whenever you have to decide what hand to open a door with.

"He is coming," Yami told himself out loud.  
.  
.  
.  
.

What was that faint sound? Coming through the Door, he thought...like a soft buzzing noise...Yugi's presence? It was! He whirled, put both hands flat against the Door.

No! The strands and strings of darkness...they were wrapped around the Puzzle and sealing him inside. Even speech would be hard to maintain now...  
.  
.  
.  
.

Yugi's voice. Muffled through the Door. But understandable at least.

"_Spirit!_"

"Yugi!" Yami cried, reaching for the other.  
.  
.  
.

Yugi's voice was faint, too faint.

"Our bond is too weak now," he sent, "You'll have to do this by yourself, Yugi..."  
.  
.  
.

"_...But I've never dueled without you_," came the reply, "_I don't think I can do this..._"

"Yes you can, trust me! I have faith in you, Yugi..."  
.  
.  
.

Connection was getting weak. It **hurt** now, to keep it open. But Yugi had to know...

"Be careful...I sense a great evil -"  
.  
.  
.  
.

It was gone.  
.  
.  
.  
.

Their only line of communication, snapped in half. He growled in helpless fury - a slip of a split-second had cost him this last chance to speak.  
.  
.  
.  
.

"YUGI!"  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.

The Door remained shut. The shadow energy, the evil he had been trying to tell Yugi about, it covered most of the Puzzle and now trapped him within his own Room.  
.  
.

"Let me out," Yami yelled, pounding on the Door, "Damn you, you sonnavabitch, LET ME OUT!"  
.  
.  
.

Too much shadow energy...he felt dizzy...  
.  
.  
.

Leaning back against the Door, the Room spun around him with the excess magic...sinking to the floor, he sat with his legs held close and waited.

Once his head finally stopped swimming, he concentrated his energy. He made a tiny slit in midair, a window to the outside world, so he could at least watch the duel for possession of the Puzzle. And himself.  
.  
.  
.  
.

Yugi was scared. The thief was winning. And probably cheating. Not that there was anything either of them could do about that if it was true.  
.  
.  
.  
.

Strings of blackness...  
.  
.  
.

"A puppet?" he wondered.

A puppet that suddenly broke free of its strings. And when the puppet master regained what control they could, the puppet-thief ran towards the Puzzle.

Seized it, and held it up high with a yell of triumph.  
.  
.  
.

Yami had just enough time to brace himself before his consciousness fragmented.

...Sensation returned...  
.  
.  
.  
.

...Strange...it felt just like...pain...  
.  
.  
.

'...Ugh...huh? What...hit me?'  
.  
.  
.  
.

The last thing he remembered -

"The Puzzle," he gasped, even as he looked around to see that everything was restored.

"Someone put it back together...Yugi?"

Yami could feel his counterpart's immediate presence, even though the other still wasn't wearing the Puzzle, but there was some other sensation coming from outside the Puzzle...  
.  
.  
.  
.

...It felt like heat. Unbearable heat.  
.  
.  
.  
.

A fire.

That was NOT a good sign.  
.  
.  
.  
.

Neither was the fact that Yugi, possibly in the same instant of re-completing the Millennium Puzzle, was at most only half conscious.

Unable to use their link, Yami tried manifesting himself outside the Puzzle in hopes of...well, to be honest he had no idea what he hoped he could do, but the very idea of just sitting there and waiting for a fiery end was maddening!  
.  
.  
.  
.

The fact that he didn't have enough energy to create an at all _visible_ body only made things worse, and seeing the magnitude of the fire itself was the crowning glory of the day's total crappiness.  
.  
.  
.  
.

If Yugi even noticed the spirit shaking his shoulder and screaming in his ear that he should just forget about the stupid Puzzle and save his own life, he made no sign of it.

Though it was far more likely that Yami's voice was just too weak to be heard.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.

"YUGI!"  
.  
.  
.  
.

What the hell -  
.  
.  
.  
.

"Yug', what the hell do you think you're doing?!" came the unmistakable voice of Yugi's best friend.

Jounouchi and Honda, having already rescued the raving Bandit Keith from an untimely demise, leapt onto the holographic arena and attempted to pry the Puzzle off the wall.  
.  
.  
.  
.

When that failed, they attempted to pry Yugi's fingers off the Puzzle. That also failed, even though Yami pitched in to the best of his non-seen and non-felt ability.  
.  
.  
.  
.

"I...won't leave...my puzzle..." Yugi wheezed as he held on with a grip-of-death, soon to be literal.

"Yugi, I respect your wishes and admire your devotion but you have to let go!" Yami yelled at him.  
.  
.  
.  
.

'The Puzzle can survive a fire this big...I think...but there's no way he could!'

Yami cast about for a solution. There were some short poles lying nearby...even though Yami wasn't capable of physically lifting the poles, after enough yelling in Jounouchi's ear the blond turned and spotted the poles as well.  
.  
.  
.  
.

There was an embarrassing minute at first, when the only thing that Honda and Jounouchi could think of to do with the poles was to use them to hit the nail holding the Puzzle to the wall, but after some more yelling that Yami chose to believe influenced Jounouchi's thought processes, they finally used the poles as a lever to pry the damn nail out. Which had been Yami's plan from the instant he'd first spotted the damn things.  
.  
.  
.  
.

'Better late than never,' Yami sighed to himself as he retreated into the Puzzle.

Now that things were safe again, he could recover his energy properly. That was important because Yugi needed him.  
.  
.  
.  
.

And hey, everyone needs to be needed.  
.  
.  
.

-Fin- 


	2. 2

Waaahhh! I wanted to work on my other fic, but college and work leave me with no time for thinky!

0

...And with THAT piece of juvenile attitude out of my brain, let me welcome you to the second of my (very) small collection of one shot fics!

This one is set during...oh, just read and find out. You're smart people.

0

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

* * *

0 

0

0

0

Opening his eyes, he sighed to himself. The mindscape was still shrouded in pitch-black darkness.

Honestly, how long did it take a person to come out of shock, anyway? It wasn't like Yugi hadn't known he was in here…

They had shared control in every single duel of importance so far…hell, Yami had even done most if not **all** the work in their Shadow Duel against the spirit of the Millennium Ring, when they had been clearly separate and visible.

Of course there were two big differences between those duels and their most recent game: before they had always won and no one had before threatened to throw themselves off the sides of castles in response to losing. 

A slight shift in Yami's seated position sent a lance of white-hot pain up and down his right arm. He grimaced as he tried to move the appendage to a less agonizing position. A little souvenir from his and Yugi's first official…argument.

It had been obvious from the moment Kaiba had started walking backwards that there wasn't going to be a good end to this particular duel. Kaiba had always been ruthless - at least as far as Yami knew - but the brunette's actions showed that not only was he ruthless, he was also extremely desperate.

Ruthless plus Desperate equaled Very, Very Bad.

And in this Very, Very Bad situation, he and Yugi had had what, in hindsight, was a very likely disagreement for the two of them to have. Yugi was against killing other people. Yami was not, as long as it was for a good reason.

Was it even a good reason?

No choice. Leaving their monster out would have doomed them. Switching the Celtic Guardian to defense mode, thus protecting their live points, would have been futile. They would most likely run out of cards before an opportunity to win without hurting Kaiba approached them. Attack was the only winning option.

He remembered…when Yugi's will faltered, he had assumed full control to carry out the move. Because of his doubts, Yugi had stepped back to let Yami carry through.

Anger burned, deep within him.

Yugi's fault.

Yugi had let Yami make the move - what right did the child whose head he was sharing have to stop him from winning? Just as the attack was beginning, one of Yugi's friends - Tea, the girl Yugi had a crush on - had begun screaming something.

He'd ignored it. Yugi had not. Yugi's doubt vanished, but of all the decisions he could have come to in that situation…

It had been a war between minds. A hundred years worth of battle had passed between the two of them in less than an instant. At first it had been Yugi pleading, badgering, demanding that the attack stop, while Yami countered every word without experiencing any interest in what Yugi was saying.

Then Yugi had begun attempting to force Yami away from the controls of their shared body, trying to take over. Yami could tolerate a great many things, but a direct assault was not one of them. He shoved Yugi's mind back.

And just like that, their minds were attacking each other. For the millionth part of a microsecond, the body in question went still, face blank as neither could force control past the other. Its owner(s) were now screaming at each other, rage channeled into deadly bullets of pure thought:

_Let me in get out of my body!_

**No I won't let you stop this!**

_We can't hurt him we can't kill him!_

**This is the only way to win we have to do this!**

_Winning isn't worth this get out get out of me get OUT OF MY HEAD!_

At the very last possible moment, the supposedly weaker of their pair attacked desperately with the force of his entire mind. As a result, Yami was ripped brutally out of control and flung into the lowest recesses of their shared soul. Yugi, now in control, called the attack off…

…And the rest, as they say, was history.

And the reason Yami was currently sporting some cracked ribs, a sprained ankle, a heck of a lot of bruising, and an arm that was cracked in at least two places was because the mental assaults Yugi had launched had translated onto his body that way.

Yami eyed the small figure sitting on the other side of the mindspace from him. Yugi hadn't exactly won their war without a scratch on him. Although it was hard to see without any light, it looked like Yugi had a black eye…

His actual body was undamaged, of course - just as Yami's 'body' was just the physical form he had while in mindscape, Yugi's 'body' was just as nonaccurate.

However, since Yami didn't happen to have a real body, he was stuck with what he'd gotten. And until Yugi got off his sulky little butt, Yami's 'body' wasn't going to heal, since he was dependant on Yugi for the extra energy healing would require.

Another wave of irritation filled the spirit. He acted on it, rising to his feet (despite the way he felt like he was about to pass out) and carefully limped his way towards the other.

Yugi's side of the mindscape wasn't that much lighter. Yami doubted Yugi had even noticed the darkness around them anyway, curled up on himself as he was. The other was blocking out everything around him in the outside world - the real reason it was so much darker than usual in here - and as of the current instant Yugi's real body could have fallen into a crocodile-filled pit and the boy wouldn't have so much as twitched.

Yami was not currently in a mood to be ignored and moved to stand directly in front of Yugi. Sure enough, within a few moments the boy lifted his gaze to stare at about Yami's knees.

Close enough.

"This is your fault," Yami declared, not even trying to lighten the anger in his voice.

Yugi flinched. Then he started getting angry himself.

"You wanted to kill him," Yugi said.

Yugi's voice was flat, practically dead-sounding. In a way, that was more accusing than Yami's rage could even be.

"There was no other choice," Yami growled.

By the sands, why were they having this argument again? It wasn't like one of them was suddenly going to say, 'Oh my gosh, you're right, what the HELL was I thinking back there?' And now Yugi would probably get even more upset and annoying…

He had seriously underestimated how much more upset Yugi could possibly get. Suddenly the boy was on his feet, tears dribbling heavily out of his black eye. Before Yami realized it, Yugi was flailing at the nearest object - him.

…

"There's ALWAYS another choice! We didn't have to kill Kaiba to get into the castle! But you don't care, you never cared, you only wanted to WIN -"

Anything else Yugi was going to say was cut off by a strangled half-scream. Confused, the boy opened his good eye to a very disturbing sight. The arm he had been battering had more bends than a regular arm was supposed to have, more than the spirit's other arm had.

That would explain why the spirit had gone completely pale, clutching at the arm in question. Yugi had been aware that for some seemingly inexplicable reason, he had gotten beaten up, but he hadn't even considered that the spirit who shared his head was in similar shape.

Or more specifically, much worse shape.

…

Trying to move away from this sudden source of pain, Yami's wrenched ankle had added its own complaints before going on strike, sending the spirit down on his side and triggering a whole new set of pain-waves from his ribs.

It felt like he might just die of pain, that's how bad it was, but some soon-to-be-damned part of his mind took that opportunity to remind Yami that he couldn't die because he was already dead, so naturally this had to be somewhere in thefarthest blackest depths of HELL -

A small hand on his forehead somehow drew his attention. The physical pain faltered, then receded. But when he opened his eyes…and made out a blurry face that just so happened to have his hairstyle…

In a burst of sudden panic Yami dropped his mental body and accepted the oblivion of total unconsciousness.

…

Yugi yelped when the spirit suddenly vanished. He wasn't really gone, Yugi knew, but he wasn't going to be doing much for a while, that was for sure. And now Yugi felt even worse than he had mere minutes ago.

He didn't want to hurt anybody - but he had. Kaiba might be alive and well, but somehow he and the spirit both were injured. And instead of keeping himself from doing anything else wrong by staying inside his head, he'd just managed to beat up the only other person who knew exactly what Yugi was feeling.

…Even if that person couldn't be trusted.

The spirit's will to dominate had been frightening. Even now Yugi wondered how he had managed to overpower the other. It had clearly cost both of them. But Yugi had also felt the spirit's stubbornness and determination. It was too dangerous to let the spirit get within arm's reach of a dueling deck.

No more dueling. Not even if…even if Grandpa remained Pegasus's prisoner forever. It was just too dangerous. What if during a friendly duel with Joey, the spirit did something to really hurt him? Maybe his friends should just go find someone else to hang out with, someone without an evil spirit inside their heads…

…Someone like Mai? Wait, why was he thinking of Mai?

Yugi's head jerked up as he heard Mai's voice again. It was muffled but he could just make out a few words, here and there.

For a few minutes, Yugi tried to make himself ignore the sounds of the outside world that were beginning to filter in. Somehow he was getting the opposite result, as dim images and more sounds began trickling in. Especially Tea's voice.

Mai and Tea were…they were dueling? For star chips? Tea was trying to win star chips to give to Yugi…even though Tea was almost hopelessly out of her league. The argument the two girls were having came in loud and clear as Yugi reluctantly resumed control over his own body.

Tea and his other friends were there for him no matter what, he'd known that the entire time without realizing it, but Mai made a sensible point. The spirit was inside Yugi's head, it dueled through Yugi's body, therefore Yugi had to be the one that set limits.

Down in the depths of his mind, he could faintly sense the spirit of the Puzzle. As Yugi's confidence rebounded, the spirit's presence seemed to grow stronger. Which was fine. That meant the spirit wouldn't be all beaten up anymore.

Yugi accepted the star chips Tea was offering him. He would duel again. Hopefully he would be able to keep the spirit's…enthusiasm…in check.

…

This was like a nightmare, Yami realized. No, not even 'like' a nightmare - this actually WAS the worst sort of possible nightmare he could ever have dreamed up.

They/Yugi were losing. Unbelievably badly. And Yugi, who was apparently even more of an idiot than Yami had first believed him to be, refused to consider the idea that the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle just might be able to pull their respective rear end out of the fire for a nonlethal win.

**If Yugi didn't want help then why did he merge us in the first place**, Yami grumbled in the back spot of their shared mind that Yugi was keeping him in, not caring if Yugi heard him.

Oh well, it wasn't like Yami was trying all that hard to convince Yugi to let him help…the last time Yami had attempted to help Yugi do something as foolishly unnecessary as, oh say, WINNING THE DUEL, was still very fresh in his memory.

They were dueling Mai. This was supposedly going to be a honorable duel - honestly, you didn't even consider killing your opponent in honorable duels! The honorable part was that whenever you recognized your defeat, you could surrender without any loss of face or penalties.

Of course, in the future there would be many less-than-honorable duels for the two of them. If their fractured partnership wasn't mended by then…Yami didn't even want to consider what would be in store for them.

The answer was simple: since it was Yugi's body, Yugi would be the one in charge. As much as Yami disliked being told what to do, this was the only thing he could offer and he hoped it would be enough.

Besides, he reflected, sometimes Yugi was actually a pretty okay kid.

…

Yugi watched the spirit like a hawk after finally agreeing to let him take a stab at the duel. The only thing he knew for certain was that at least some of the remorse he had sensed was real.

The spirit played fast. The Swords were already gone, and now it was Gaia and Kuribo against Mai's seemingly unstoppable Harpy ensemble. The spirit had been counting on something called a Black Luster Ritual, but he hadn't gotten the right card yet. And if they didn't draw the card this turn they would lose for certain.

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as the spirit reached for the deck. He touched the top card, and was about to draw it when Yugi sensed something inside them quiver and then brutally snap. All of the careful self-control the spirit had been using to hide certain feelings from Yugi failed and then -

Yugi was suddenly made painfully aware of exactly how much the spirit had staked on this one card, this one move, this one duel. There were some other feelings mixed in with the fears he was now feeling…loneliness and anger, mostly.

But there was no sign of any lust for power or control, like he'd thought. In less than a second, Yugi realized he might have made a mistake assuming this spirit was evil. The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle just pursued his goals with a little more ruthless determination than the average person.

Like Seto Kaiba, who'd threatened to end his own life in order to win because if he lost he would literally have no reason to keep going.

Yugi moved back to the situation at hand. While he was busy coming to various understandings, the spirit was shredding what remained of his self-confidence in panic.

**…there's far too much depending on this for me to risk losing again, murmured the spirit's thoughts, I can't do this, I can't!**

_We can!_ Interrupted Yugi.

In the mindscape, Yugi was treated to a vaguely amusing expression of surprise and astonishment on the spirit's face when he spotted Yugi standing next to him, ready and willing to provide support.

**…Yugi?**

_Everything will work out fine as long as we work together and trust each other,_ Yugi said, _And believe it or not, I trust you. Do you trust me?_

**…I…yes.**

Together, they drew. The cards almost seemed to tingle under their fingertips, Heart of the Cards pumping double-time now that they were working as one again.

It was really no surprise that the card they held was Black Luster Ritual.


	3. 3

Wow. I sure haven't been here for a while. My bad!

Okay, I was poking through my giant pile o' manga (yes, I do have one, actually) and was re-reading the Yu-Gi-Oh mangas...and I got to volumes 9 and 10, which features the game wherein the Puzzle gets smashed.

Now, I know I've already done one of those, but this one is for the manga instead of the anime. (Plus my writing kind of sucked back then) I tried to stay truer to the original series, so I hope you all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Yugioh not owned here

* * *

…  
…  
… 

"I don't know," Yugi said as he prepared to hook the ends of the chain to the loop of the Puzzle, "It's really thick. Won't it be odd looking?"

_It was the only one they had, wasn't it?_ murmured the now-familiar voice of his other self, _And you insisted on using something more sturdy than the cord._

"True," Yugi agreed, turning his attention towards attaching the chain without accidentally damaging the precious Sennen Item in the process.

After some effort, it was done. Yugi hung the Puzzle around his neck, pleased to see that the chain had turned out to be just the right length after all. He still wasn't comfortable with how flashy it ended up looking, but…

"YUGI!"

Grandpa's voice, only slightly muffled from coming from outside, cut into Yugi's thoughts with ease.

"ANZU'S HERE TO PICK YOU UP!"

Yugi's stomach did a quick belly-flop.

"I'll be right down!" Yugi yelled back.

Before heading outside, Yugi paused to check himself in the mirror. And grimaced. The chain DID look ridiculous - just his luck when he was getting to walk to school with Anzu!

_I think it looks good on you, aibou!_

"Of course you do," Yugi replied, "But really, isn't it flashy?"

Yugi could almost see his other self shake his head. Yugi could definitely detect the wolfish smirk that suddenly bloomed on the other's face.

_It's still too subtle, if you ask me,_ mou hitori no Yugi grinned, _You should try wearing some silver chains on your arms to go with it!_

"C'mon! You know that's not my style at all!" Yugi exclaimed.

Yugi's face was still red with embarrassment as he charged outside to where Anzu was waiting for him, his other self still merrily teasing him all the way. After all the stress from fighting in Duelist Kingdom, this was a nice change…even if it turned out that Yugi's other self did enjoy indulging in plenty of light-hearted teasing now that they had figured out how to talk to each other.

As her son dodged past her, Yugi's mother shook her head and sighed. Really, her sweet, shy son had finally made many good friends, but he was talking to himself so much lately. Maybe it was just a phase…

…

"Ryuji! You've got some guts messing with my friend right in front of me!"

Yugi settled back to watch. This was a disappointment…Ryuji seemed like a good gamer, and it would have been nice for them to become friends, but he had been completely cruel to Jonouchi. There was no call for that! His other self was just as indignant at their friend's treatment.

"You'll be playing me now, Ryuji," mou hitori no Yugi snapped, "If I win, you'll do one thing I ask you to."

Ryuji shrugged.

"Fine. But if you lose…you get to answer to me."

"Alright."

Ryuji seemed to ooze even more confidence at this challenge. And he'd already been very confident when he'd challenged Jonouchi to the "Cup and Dice" and "Four Aces"…speaking of which…

_Are you going to play "Four Aces" with him?_ Yugi asked.

'Hmm? Why do you ask?' his other self replied.

_I don't know why_, Yugi hesitantly offered, _But something about that game just doesn't seem fair to me…_

The look Yugi got from his other self was nothing short of proud.

'Ah, I'm glad you noticed it aibou!'

_Huh? You mean…_

'Both times, Ryuji set up a shell game against Jonouchi. Those are cheating games, titled in favor of whoever initiates them,' his other self explained, 'For example, "Four Aces" appears to have 50-50 odds, because people are fooled by drawing twice in a row. But once you've drawn the first card, no matter which color, there is only one of that color left in the other three cards.'

_So the real odds are…one in three?_

'Right!'

Now Yugi felt even angrier. Bad enough that Ryuji was being cruel in victory, but he had set Jonouchi up for this right from the start!

"We'll play "Four Aces"," Ryuji said, scooping up the four cards and beginning to shuffle them.

"You'll add a Joker to that," mou hitori no Yugi interrupted.

This version of the game proceeded quickly. It was color matching again, but the person who picked the Joker automatically lost. As it turned out, that unlucky person was Ryuji. Ryuji demanded a rematch, and drew the Joker in that game as well.

They were just getting up to leave when Ryuji, who had been fuming over his losses, exploded.

"Yugi! Is this some kind of - of shell game!" Ryuji spluttered, gesturing angrily at the scattered cards on the desk. Mou hitori no Yugi paused and turned back slightly, a sly look on his face.

"…Maybe."

"Huh? Shell game?" Jonouchi blinked.

"An unfair game with terrible odds," mou hitori no Yugi explained for the blonde's benefit, "Jonouchi, you lost those games because they were rigged."

"WHAT! That no good dirty cheater! Thinking he's so hot at winning rigged games…"

_Mou hitori no boku?_ Yugi piped up, _Was your game a shell game too?_

'What do you think it was?'

_I'm not sure if it was or not. Also, you never seem to mind cheating as long as the other person does it first._

'If my opponent has an unfair advantage, then I have to even the playing field by having one as well. It's hardly cheating when you do it that way.'

…

First, the Black Crown store had been so crowded that Yugi had gotten completely separated from his Grandpa and friends. That might have been tolerable - even if this DDM game looked so popular that there was no way for him to get anywhere near a pack before they sold out - but just as that helpful clown mascot had helped him get ahead in line, these security guys had dragged him off in seconds, claiming that he'd been stealing!

"There's no way I was shoplifting!" Yugi insisted, "I don't steal!"

"Well, just to be sure, we need to search you," one of the security guys said, "And we'll just hold onto THIS as collateral until you're proven innocent!"

Without any further warning, the security guy yanked the Sennen Puzzle off Yugi's neck by the chain. The annoyance Yugi had been feeling pooling out from the back of his mind spiked with rage in an instant, only for the feeling to fade away to nothing in another.

Before Yugi could fully process this, the other security guy suddenly 'found' packs of DDM in his jacket pocket. There was, of course, no way they could be there, even if Yugi had actually tried to take them without paying - ALL the packs of DDM had been kept behind the counter to keep people from doing just that! Before Yugi could point this obvious fact out, another voice interrupted.

"This is a serious problem," said the voice, "It appears that under that innocent mask is the face of a thief."

This voice belonged to the clown mascot - so much for him being helpful! - who was now holding the Sennen Puzzle.

"I didn't steal anything!" Yugi protested, "Give me back my Puzzle!"

"Little boys who won't say 'sorry' need to learn their lesson the hard way!" the clown sneered, "Take him away!"

This clown was apparently the boss; the security guys dragged Yugi out the door and further away from his Puzzle without hesitation. Struggling proving useless, Yugi tried to focus inward instead. With the Sennen Puzzle gone, switching control to his other self was impossible. But they had already proven that their souls could never truly separate under much harsher conditions than these…

Muffled and out of focus, the feeling of his other self's presence strengthened as Yugi focused on it. The other was as much inside Yugi as he was inside the Puzzle, if not more, and it took only a few brief moments before the frustration and anger Yugi was sensing gave way to surprise, and then confusion and relief.

'Mou hitori no boku? Can you hear me? Are you alright?'

_…Hear you…barely…_

It seemed that their newly found ability to speak with each other wasn't quite up to this challenge, even if their bond was strong.

Anymore attempts at conversation had to be put on hold, unfortunately; the security guys still hustling Yugi along stopped at a door, opened it, and shoved him through before slamming it shut behind him.

Wincing at the uncomfortable landing on the unpadded floor, Yugi found himself in a dark, windowless room. The only light was coming from a lamp hanging over a wide table. A familiar figure was seated at the far side of the table, clearly waiting for Yugi's arrival.

The whole thing, Yugi realized in a heartbeat, had been a complete set-up.

…

Oh, he was sore.

Sensing the impending loss of the Puzzle, he'd tried to jump for control. It was an emergency, Yugi would have understood - if they had switched in time, the Puzzle's loss would have had no impact on his presence in Yugi's body at all.

Unfortunately, quick as he had been, someone else had been quicker. The experience had been similar to bouncing off a solid wall; unpleasant and painful. Well, he was stuck now, and there was no sense dwelling on it.

Much more worrisome was how, while the bond between their souls was still as strong as ever, his and Yugi's ability to communicate was still new and fragile, and this was straining it terribly.

Before, this situation wouldn't have been quite as distressing - this wasn't the first time Yugi had had to play solo to win back his own Puzzle - but they had grown quite comfortable speaking on a regular basis. He could still watch the game, as always, but losing his 'voice' was unbelievably frustrating.

So it was a relief to discover that the straining connection still worked, at least partly.

_Yes, I can hear you just barely_, he'd replied.

Less than half of that had made it across, but he worked on that during the game until it was smoother. Even with that, the connection actually hurt when it was pulled so taunt. He could feel how the discomfort was unsettling Yugi, distracting him when he needed to concentrate on the game, and fumed. Where had they PUT the blasted Puzzle? If it were any closer…

Something answered that unspoken wish. The strain eased slightly. The Sennen Puzzle was closer now…not in the room unfortunately, but just outside it.

Good enough. Tuning back into the game, he listened as Ryuji related a very interesting tale. So, this was all a product of Ryuji's father's failed attempt to take the Puzzle? A long-kept grudge…such a pity, Ryuji really did have a true gamer's fire in him…but he and Yugi were meant to be each other's second selves.

He had no sympathy for fools who tried to stand in the way of that fact.

_Don't give up, no matter what happens!_

'I won't! Count on it!'

"Ryuji! I FORBID you to lose to Sugoroku's grandson!"

Someone else had entered the room. The clown - Ryuji's father, and the man behind this entire scheme. He was holding the Sennen Puzzle in his hands, and the strain eased even further with the proximity. That should be a good thing…why did this make him uneasy?

When the man began raving about his son's worthiness to own the Puzzle, Ryuji showed surprising character by insisting that his father stay out of the fight. Unfortunately, the man decided to show his son that he could be of 'help' after all, and set about attempting to pry the Sennen Puzzle apart into its pieces.

No chance for that to work. Even in this state, as long as he kept his will stronger than this man's, the pieces would hold firm. Unfortunately, this one was focused in his rage, and it was harder than it should have been…

'He's not…Mou hitori no boku!'

_Aibou, get the Puzzle away from him!_

The struggle was intensifying…this was starting to hurt…

'Hold on!'

_…Trying…_

'Mou hitori no boku!'

_…Hurry…_

Too late.

"Ngghhh! Take THIS!"

All the festering hatred and vile rage of a ruined man with a twenty-year grudge and nothing left to lose crashed into him from almost every direction. Too much…this was too much…it was -

Gone.

A blinding pain ripped was left of his concentration to shreds as a piece of the Puzzle slid out. He gave an involuntary cry at the shock -

Another piece, removed with ease this time, tore his voice out of his throat.

Then the world shattered, each piece tearing through him. It was a moment of perfect agony…and then there was nothing. Nothing but himself, alone in the cold and the dark.

Couldn't move, couldn't see, couldn't scream…was this death?

There was no way of telling how long he lay there, the vague and uncertain impressions flitting just out of reach the only sense he had of the outside world.

The impressions slowly grew stronger, though…faint hope began stirring as the cold began dissipating, as life began returning to his weakened limbs. The Sennen Puzzle wouldn't let anyone else solve it…so that meant…that had to mean…

The outside world rushed through him for the barest instant that passed between Yugi's completion of the Puzzle and his collapse. The world outside was blistering heat and stinking smoke and unless someone did something, they were definitely both going to die.

He held onto their chain, their bond - still too weak, there was nothing else he could do - and waited.

It was almost a surprise to hear Jonouchi at the other end. Jonouchi was trying desperately to save Yugi, but Yugi wasn't letting go of the Puzzle and the Puzzle was stuck…

_…Jonouchi…_

Jonouchi heard him.

…

"He held onto it the whole time. He wouldn't let go of the chains…"

…  
…  
…

(Sorry, my endings haven't gotten any better, unfortunately)

Explanations for the Unaware:

Mou hitori no boku - The other me (what Yugi actually calls the spirit in the Puzzle)

Mou hitori no Yugi - The other Yugi (what other people actually call the spirit in the Puzzle)

Ryuji - Duke Devlin's real (Japanese) name

Anzu - Taya's real (Japanese) name

Jonouchi - Joey's real (Japanese) name

Sennen Puzzle - Millennium Puzzle


End file.
